1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates a method for improving communication in the delivery medical services. More particularly, this invention relates to a method to enhance communication and perform tasks to assist medical professionals in patient care, especially in the area of Pre-Service.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the world of healthcare is a geographically and organizationally independent collection of many constituents, such as the following: hospitals and healthcare enterprises; physicians (group or small practices) and clinics; patients and consumers; payors and government (Medicare, Medicaid, etc.); pharmacies and other suppliers; home health agencies; knowledge sources and educational institutions. These constituents work together in highly dynamic relationships. As such, these constituents must share highly confidential information to conduct complex processes (e.g. surgical procedures, radiology exams, lab tests, prescription fulfillment and others). It is imperative that some information be readily available to these constituents.
Today, these relationships exchange information using conventional methods such as paper, phone and human courier methods almost exclusively. It is believed that these inefficient methods represent a significant cost to the healthcare system as a whole. It has been estimated that $600B of the $1.4T national healthcare expense consists of administrative costs like these.
One area of communication in which this problem may be exacerbated is in the “Pre-Service” arena. “Pre-Service” may be defined as the events that take place prior to a patient receiving services from the hospital. These events may typically involve hospital and non-hospital personnel and resources, such as physicians, physician office staff, hospital scheduling departments, pre-certification professionals, and department registration staff.
FIGS. 1A-C show the events that may occur during a typical Pre-Service event (“Pre-Service”). First, a physician makes a decision to refer a patient, to a hospital, for example. Patient information is collected, usually by the physician's office staff such as a nurse. The type of service prescribed by the physician is determined and collected. Other information, such as preferred appointment dates, may be collected at this time. The physician request is signed, as required in most instances.
Referring to FIG. 1B, the patient is scheduled at the hospital to which the patient has been referred. The hospital is provided with the Pre-Service instructions. The patient may pre-register, including information about preferred appointment dates for the procedure to be performed. The information from the patient is delivered and the hospital performs Pre-Services checks and verification. This is typically performed by the hospital Pre-Service personnel.
As shown in FIG. 1C, the patient then signs a consent for the procedure, the patient is registered by hospital registration, and the prescribed service is later performed.
Prior art systems may have detrimental financial impacts on the health-care provider, such as the denials of benefits from insurance companies, and under-utilization of resources. Prior art systems may also include inefficiencies, such as waste and duplication of effort, incomplete information, etc. all of which may impact the quality of patient care, lead to patient dissatisfaction, and lead to staff dissatisfaction.
One typical prior art system is shown in FIG. 2. As can be seen and as described above, communication (telephonic, fax, and mail) is exchanged among a myriad of constituents: physician's office, hospital scheduling, patient, hospital Pre-Service, hospital registration, e.g. The inefficiencies in prior art communication techniques cause detrimental effects on the care of the patient. It has been estimated that 20% of the costs associated with pre-servicing can be reduced if the information and communications are improved.
Many attempts to solve these problems have been attempted in the past (CHINs, Web, etc.). Examples include CHINs (community health information networks) and utilizing the web. However, these methods may provide un-secured communication between the constituents and may incur the same deficiencies of the prior art, partly because the technologies available at the time were insufficient due to many factors including cost, ownership, centralization and complexity. In short, in the prior art methods, computing technology may have been unable to operate effectively in the highly complex healthcare world.
The present invention provides a solution that may minimize, or eliminate, the problems associated with the prior art solutions. The disclosed method provides a more reliable, highly secure communication and workflow mechanism than that presently known in the prior art. The method reduces the need to rely upon the traditional, inherently fallible and unsecured communication mechanisms and couriers of paper, phone and fax.